CA - HOA Tree on HOA Front Grass Area Pushing up Owners Concrete Drive

Our community of 95 town homes, in CA, has a nice mature tree and a 10ft by 6ft piece of grass in front of each townhome. The HOA owns the sidewalks in front of grass area and road/asphalt after sidewalk.

How to divide up the costs of repair? One option is to say homeowner gets concrete repaired, and while concrete is up, HOA pays for tree root to be cut. That is PMs line. Our homeowners in this situation are saying not fair. They contend that as the driveway is damaged by HOA tree, HOA should pay to repair concrete driveway too.

We have no money set aside in operating expenses or Reserves to cover driveway repair.

Any wisdom welcomed!

Sue

Simply speaking as a BOD volunteer(HOA) for a few California years, responsibility isn't connected to available funds. If HOA tree roots did damage, fix it and have an Arborist walk
your community, hopefully identifying future problems so prevention can occur. We are experiencing similar issues.

My docs call out incidental damage caused to the unit by the Assn shall be repaired at the expense of the assn.

Even though the tree was not a dramatic unit of work but it took years to happen it is the assn responsibility. However if it wasn't stated like that in the docs then all bets are off. That was in the master deed portion.

Susan do you have a section like that in your docs?

The attorney is most likely correct. The assn stuff is probably called out directly and anything else that is not stated directly is the unit owner's.

Grant Deed is a new term for me! What is it and where should I look for it in my Association. Thanks to all. Sue

A grant deed is evidence that property ownership interest was granted from one person to another. A deed of trust shows a mortgage lender’s interest in the property and the parties’ obligations.

California case law indicates that the HOA should pay for repairs for damage to an owner's property caused by a HOA owned tree. See https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/T/Tree-Maintenance

As someone else pointed out, it's time for an arborist/management/the board to tour the grounds; identify pavement lifting (for one); and nip the problem in the bud. Preferably remove the tree.

The cause of the tree falling is important.

Real life examples.

1. Storm came through and tree got hit with lighting fell and hit the structure. Insurance covered.

2. Storm came through and with a lot of wind the tree hit the structure. Insurance oovered. Except for one things. Lot of sweating on that one since the insurance company could have said the tree was too big and should have been maintained properly. A massive five stage project that went over several years to take care of the trees for the property got kicked off.

A tree branches and its roots work hand in hand. I am not going into details on this forum because that is an entire different universe.

here is a decent link for posterity.

https://friendsoftrees.org/news-resources/tree-pruning/

In any case the original suggestion of Jackie is important. Get the tree experts involved.

In respect to Kerry's post about the driveway. If I owned the driveway I am responsible for fixing it etc. However the paying for it is the condo assn/HOA.

This is no different than two SFH next to each other. Damage to one property done by the other property. In condo it's always two parts. Who fixes it and who pays for it. In the SFH scenario fixing is by homeowner paying is by neighbor if they are responsible.

The docs should drive who fixes it and who pays for it scenario.

That link speaks of "want of ordinary care or skill," which I think translates to negligence, yes?

Hi Jeff nice to hear from you.

Would you be able to give an example where the assn is not responsible for damages thet originates from the common elements and damages a specific unit?

thanks.

Divide the cost of repairs by 95, that is how much each homeowner is on the hook for. In many cases if the driveway slab is just lifted, it just may
need to be ground down with a concrete grinder.

Replace with trees that do not have invasive root systems. Are the driveways privately owned or are they a common element? If privately owned, you
may have liability issues with the homeowner.

A common element pipe that springs a leak and no one is to blame. An electrical fire that is not due to someone's mistake or lack of maintenance. Water damage from a hurricane that blows off part of a perfectly good roof. Unexpected first time sewer backup. A healthy tree limb blows down in a storm, usually. In cases like these, unless your docs say otherwise, the association usually fixes the common elements and the owner fixes their unit. On the other hand, if the association neglects proper maintenance or does shody work, then the association pays for the damage that is caused by their negligence.

Gooooood reply, Jeff. as usual!